Alabama

Picabo Street Talks About Lindsey VonnOn Jan. 7, Lindsey Vonn announced that she was withdrawing from competing in the Sochi Winter Olympics because her knee was too unstable. Vonn, the most accomplished female skier in U.S. history, had hoped to defend her gold medal in the downhill from the 2010 Olympics, but suffered multiple setbacks. Picabo Street, who will be an Olympic analyst for Fox Sports 1, talks about what Vonn is going through. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./screnshawjr@al.com)

BIRMINGHAM,
Alabama - Picabo Street is many things - a former world class alpine

View full sizeFormer Olympian Picabo Street on set as an analyst for Fox Sports 1 at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Submitted photo)

skier, a
wife and a mother of four.

One thing
she isn't is a cardiologist, until it comes to measuring the heartbeat of
interest in Winter Olympic sports from one Olympiad to the next, which begins today.

"I love
informing people and getting people excited about the Olympics and athletes
they should cheer for," the Corner resident said. "I want the heartbeat of the
Olympics to stay beating louder in the down years between the Games so that the
athletes have more support. And I like to talk about what I've experienced and
what I know and answer questions people might have."

Now she's an
Olympic analyst for Fox Sports 1 who acknowledges that the Olympic heartbeat is
not nearly as apparent from one Olympics to the next.

"It's way
more faint," she said. "I can't tell you how many times I personally or have
heard other Olympians be asked, 'What do you do in the years between the
Olympics?'"

The standard
response is that Olympic athlete travel and train all year long every year.
Nobody knows that, she said, that activity isn't mainstream.

"Some of
those things that they're doing in those ... years between Olympics are amazing,"
she said. "Some of the progress that they're making and some of the inspiration
that would come from their stories being told is phenomenal. I'm a bit biased
because I am an Olympian and I love them so much. But honestly, I don't think
there's anyone out there who will say I don't like the Olympics so it needs to
be supported more, in my opinion."

The skier
turned analyst admitted to having a twinge of jealousy when she considered the
support other athletes received from their countries.

"In my sport
in particular, ski racing, there are several countries in Europe where it's the
No. 1 sport," she said. "It's what people wait for all year long. The athletes
who are successful those sports are their national heroes and they're
celebrities. I was actually way more famous and popular in Europe than I was
here because of my dominance over there. That was hard for me and there were times
it would make me sad."

But more
than sad, Peek said the disparity in her acclaim inspired her. It motivated me
to get on the radar of the masses of Americans.

"I wanted to
foster and draw attention to the sport, to our team and to our success," she said.
"I started telling people about my runs so they could live vicariously through
me and try to keep the Wow Factor away. People may look at a sport like Alpine
skiing with a Wow Factor attached to it because they can't do it. Even if they
do ski, they look at it and go, 'Wow, that's such another level.' I was always
trying to break down that Wow Factor."

Now as a
retired skier turned analyst, Street is still helping folks back home identify
with Winter Olympians, understanding that she's no longer the center of
attention.

"I am not
the show," she said. "I can really use the position as an opportunity to endear
this next group of athletes to our young viewers and get them to embrace the
spotlight, act right in it and be a part of keeping the heartbeat of the
Olympics alive in the down time."